Reddit mentions: The best children activities, crafts & game books

• Press Here
  This book is SO much fun. It’s an interactive one so more fun when they get a little older.
  
  
• Room on the Broom
  A fun story about sharing and the importance of friendship when you need help.
  
  
• Pig the Pug
  This one is a hilarious story about a mean dog falling out a window lol. It was recommended to me by a little girl at Barnes and Noble. She picked it up and said “Wanna read about the worst dog ever?” She wasn’t wrong haha.
  
  
• Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
  Just a nice little rhyming bedtime story about construction equipment.
  
  
• Baby Beluga
  Yes, like the Raffi song! Singing books are sooo great to help get your little one interested in talking. This was one of my favorite songs as a kid but I only recently found out about the book. My son loves singing this with me.
  
  
• I Love You Stinkyface
  About loving your kid no matter who they are. Although I feel like it’s slightly geared toward moms of boys, it’s great for any kid or parent (they don’t actually use pronouns for the kid in the book FYI).
  
  
• Someday
  About the dreams and wishes for your baby as they grow up. Definitely on the sappy side, geared a little more toward moms of girls but I read it to my son often (and cry while I do it).
  
  
• Little Blue Truck
  Cute rhyming story about the importance of friendship and being nice to those you meet.
  
  
• Go Away Big Green Monster
  This one is a little older but idk if everyone has heard of it. It’s essentially an interactive book that teaches your kid that they have control of monsters. Each page pieces together a picture of a monster (it’s not a scary one), until you tell the monster to go away, and then each page takes a piece of the monster away.
  
  
• Anything written by Mo Willems!!
  The Pigeon books, Elephant and Piggie books, and Knuffle Bunny are all great. Funny for adults and engaging for kids.
  
  (Will edit and add more later as I think of them)

I think I understand what you are trying to experiment. You are asking if 2 beginners start playing chess while reading different beginner books, how will their play styles and understanding of the game change? I think this is a very interesting idea, and although I hypothesize that "no matter how different the books are, the difference will be because of the players, not the books" I will gladly suggest some ideas for your experiment.

There are plenty of chess books that are written by classical GMs that many people still find amazingly helpful.

"Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals" is still a very good for learning strong end game and good idea of how pieces work together. His end games are still considered some of the cleanest. He was somebody who could take puzzling situations and make them simple. It's very satisfying to following his games.

"My System" by GM Nimzowitsch is a bit different. Where as Capablanca relied more on classical openings and simplified situations with strong piece control, Nizomwitisch was of the hypermodern school which focused more on challenging the old classical fundamental beliefs and positional superiority.

If both of you start with one of each book, it'd be interesting to see how both of you end up playing. But honestly as beginners, (I'm a low level asshole myself aka patzer) some of the higher level things we're talking about here may not even mean anything for a long time.

Honestly, everybody in life has a certain chess style. Some play for the tactics, some for positions, some for the calculations, while others for the pattern recognition, some play sharp while some play loose, some play meek while some play aggressively. It really depends on you as a player, and I think that in the end, no matter which book you start with, you will end up the player you are going to be anyway.

As for other books that may be of interest for both of you, as they always say in chess "tactics, tactics, tactics": it may be a good idea to supplement both of your books with a tactical book such as https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861 or https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Tactics-Champions-step-step/dp/081293671X or this https://www.amazon.com/Predator-At-Chessboard-Field-Tactics/dp/1430308001

and also supplement tactics with mating motifs like this: https://www.amazon.com/How-Beat-Your-Chess-Gambit/dp/1901983056

I hope you and your friend have a lot of fun playing and learning together. I have definitely enjoyed playing with my work mates. If you guys haven't chosen an online platform already, I suggest lichess.org or chess.com. Both are very great sites for playing chess for free. One is absolutely free and offers some very cool features for self analysis and community study material, while the other has paid premium memberships which offer a breadth of learning material in videos and articles.

reading is awesome

I have a whole children's books list for work. I take this opportunity to list some of my favorite books on my list for all to see.

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. A delightfully repetitious book that children can join in on about a pompous ladybug who pretends to be tough but in reality is not very tough. "Hey you! Want to fight?!"

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. A book about a pacifist bull who refuses to bullfight. I love this story as a way to highlight introverts and pacifists instead of macho, extroverts like most books do.

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. How do you even describe this book? Harold uses a magical crayon that creates whatever he draws. His adventures are created by himself. He causes mischief and gets out of mischief all by his own creations.

Spoon by Amy Rosenthal. This is about a spoon that is uncertain with its place in the world. He believes that knives, forks, and chopsticks get to have all the fun. His parents teach him otherwise. Who else gets to eat ice cream?!

Henny Penny by Paul Galdone. The sky is falling and Henny Penny must tell the King! A fun nonsense rhyming book with repetition that children can join in the refrain.

Corduroy by Don Freeman. A stuffed bear in a department store is almost purchased by a little girl until her mother tells her that she spent too much money and the bear is missing a button. Corduroy ventures off through the department store to find his button. I love this little story. Plus the linked version comes with a Corduroy!

Mr. Gumpy's Outing by John Buningham. The amazon summary is probably better than what I would say: It's a pleasant day, so Mr. Gumpy decides to go for a boat ride. Each barnyard animal begs to join him, and Mr. Gumpy agrees-as long as each behaves! Two children join the fun, and as soon as the boat is launched, everyone does exactly what Mr. Gumpy asked them not to do.

Some honorable mentions from my list: Knuffle Bunny, A Visitor for Bear, I Got Two Dogs, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, The Three Pigs, The Big Green Monster (someone else already posted this!)

Oh god, I could spend hours in this topic. I have so many books already that are not on my list. I may be stealing this idea for a contest later this week. Thank you for the contest. Reading is awesome and I love instilling a passion for reading in preschoolers.

Oh, I <3 looking for books for my kids!! They are 14, 13, 12, 11, and 5. Our son is the youngest, and he loves all the books that his older sisters loved when they were younger. :D

Oh my gosh...Get those kids some books!

• This is my favorite children's book.
  
  
• The Story of Ferdinand.
  
  
• This is one of my son's favorites...IronMan!.
  
  
• The Day My Mommy Quit.
  
  
• Dragons Love Tacos.
  
  
• If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.
  
  
• I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love.
  
  
• The Day The Crayons Quit.
  
  
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
  
  
• Boom Chicka Rock.
  
  
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Mama Hook Knows Best: A Pirate Parent's Favorite Fables with CD.
  
  
• Are You My Mother?.
  
  
• Love You Forever.
  
  
• I Love You, Stinky Face.
  
  
• The Runaway Bunny.
  
  
• Oh, The Places You'll Go. Cool idea I saw on Pinterest with this book: Buy a copy and have each of your kids' teachers write a little note somewhere in it at the end of every year. Give the book to your kid as a graduation gift. I am doing this with our son now, I saw the idea too late to start it for our girls.
  
  
• Ten Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed.
  
  
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
  
  
• The Velveteen Rabbit. -- A HUGE FAVORITE!!
  
  
• Locomotive.
  
  
• Sleep Like A Tiger.
  
  
• The Lion And The Mouse.
  
  
• Blueberries for Sal.
  
  
• David Gets In Trouble.
  
  
• Press Here. This is a very fun book!
  
  
• The One and Only Ivan.
  
  
• The Polar Express.
  
  
• Flotsam.
  
  
• Only One You.
  
  
• Beautiful Oops!.
  
  I would love this book for our oldest daughter if I win, please.
  
  /u/DrUsual...can you think of any?
  
  Thank you for the contest!

YouTube commentators: (Most of these are kid friendly with little foul language - it's been a while since I listened to them, so they might have changed since then)
ChimneySwift11
Captain Sparklez
Coe's Quest - Really good
Dan021
EthosLab
MinecraftWB
paulsoaresjr - survive and thrive series

Most of the videos will be using a different version that is out today. The PC version might be a bit overwhelming for him as you have to use the keyboard and mouse at the same time, but you can do the hard lifting by doing things for him or letting him run the mouse or keyboard while you do the other.

My niece can't play the PC version but she will get on the Android version with her brother and they will play together, so he might enjoy doing that with you. if you have two computers on the same home network you can both play in the same world. It might be a great way for your son and you to learn together without purchasing a server. One blogger I read suggested https://gforceservers.com/ as a good server host to use - I have not used them so I don't know how good/bad they are.

The PaulSoaresJr Play and thrive is a great introduction as he posts the map and then walks you through how to do things and you can follow along on the same map.

Minecraftforum.net is another good resource, where you can post if you get stuck or have a question.

There is a set of Minecraft books: http://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-Complete-Collection-Stephanie-Milton/dp/0545685192/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422626759&sr=1-1&keywords=minecraft . My nephew got them for Christmas and they are very well done.

I don't know if you know there are different levels you can play, so you may want to start his worlds in 'easy' in survival mode or 'creative'. Easy if I remember correctly has no monsters and the food bar doesn't deplete, you have to go out mining to get your materials to build. Creative has all the blocks available to you and the blocks are easy to break.

Good luck with your son.

my now 4-year-old loved (and still loves) play doh, and kid safe washable paint. also, for something less supervised, Color Wonder markers and paper/books are great, they make paints too and stamps, it's made by Crayola. my kid also liked helping with easy tasks when cooking, specifically mashing bananas for bread. i made some slime not that long ago, was super easy (glue, food coloring, shaving cream and contact solution i think were the only ingredients) that was a hit and it lasted FOREVER kept in a tupperware.

we also love books, he especially enjoys interactive books like flip the flap or Don't Push The Button and Press Here

he also started getting into puzzles at that age, we had these from his first or second birthday that he took a while to take interest in, but once he did he was obsessed. they have all kinds, pets, vehicles, dinosaurs. we also have this set too

pintrest is rife with crafting ideas for any age, just search, don't think you need an account or profile

when it comes down to it, as long as you don't mind a mess, just about anything can be an activity in a pinch. bust out some different food from the cabinet, sensory explore the differences between things like flour, sugar, oatmeal, or if your brave, get messy with things like peanut butter, syrup, ketchup. get the pots and pans out and have a drum circle in the kitchen.

when all else fails, put on uptown funk, turn it up, and have a dance party


lol that's all i got! good luck and have fun :)

> I know the general rules of chess, but I am inexperienced in the different tactics and openings and what not.

Zeroth, make sure you know all the rules of chess. In particular, en passant, stalemate, pawn promotion, and castling, since these four rules are the four rules most misunderstood or not known by beginners.

First, don't concentrate on openings. Openings usually only give you a very small advantage, which beginners won't understand how to utilize.

Second, the only tactics you should really be focusing on are hanging piece tactics, ones where you can take a piece for free. They're as simple as tactics get, are a good way to train your board vision if you're a beginner, and are very simple to check for. Most games at your level will be decided by one player hanging a bunch of their pieces, so be prepared to punish your opponent for doing so. At the same time, make sure you don't hang your own pieces.

Augmenting this, you'll want to learn about the (rough) values of each piece. This will tell you what piece trades are favourable. It's no good trading a queen for a pawn since a pawn is worth less than a queen, for example.

Third, learn your basic endgame mates. Just the first three will do for now; if you think you're up to it, you can also learn KBBvK. It's no use being ahead two rooks and a queen if you can't finish your opponent off, because the goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent, not to get the most material. Like I said, most beginner games are decided by one person having lots of material, so you had better make sure you know how to win when you have lots of material (and how to make it as difficult as possible for your opponent should you be on the losing side!).

Finally, play as much as you can! Practice is very important; you can't just become a Grandmaster without ever having played a single game in the same way that you can't just get a PhD in mathematics without having ever actually proved any theorems (cough cough, /u/math238).

> Is there any resources or books you would recommend to someone trying to become good at chess?

Resources include ChessTempo (you should probably sign up, and you'll probably have to fail a lot of tactics before you're given the easy stuff) and ChessCademy. You can play chess against others on Lichess.org or Chess.com. (Chess.com also offers a good amount of resources but they're behind a paywall and can usually be found elsewhere.)

Books include How To Beat Your Dad At Chess (I've heard good things about it but haven't read it) and Logical Chess, Move By Move (which is a bit more advanced but explained very well).

There are a lot of nice FNaF shirts out there, if you're hoping to get him a gift that's both practical and fun.

Here's a Foxy shirt from Hot Topic. This hoodie is pretty nice too. They have many other options.

Target has this and this.

Walmart has FNaF shirts / hats / etc. as well -- check the boys' section.

The plushies made by Funko are nice, and there are several different Foxy ones to choose from, too. Those are sold at the same stores linked above, as well as Gamestop and other game / media stores.

There's also a FNaF bed set that was recently released, but it doesn't prominently feature Foxy. Still.. practical and fun gift.. so there you go.

If he likes to read, the first FNaF novel was released about a year ago, and the second one will be out by the end of July. There will be a third within the next year, in all likelihood. These books are published by Scholastic and are at about a 7th grade reading level. Lots of people here -- kids, teens, adults -- have read it and enjoyed it.

There's also The Freddy Files but that won't be out for ~2mos so I'm not sure it will be in time for his birthday.

If he likes Legos, there are building sets made by McFarlane Toys. The Foxy one is a Walmart exclusive, and one of the larger sets, I think.

Hope he has a great birthday party! Tell him he can come hang out with the "cool kids" here after he turns 13, heh.

Well, everyone has different preferences, but I'd suggest getting one with pictures (this is lovely and very popular - she might find her friends have got it also, if they color) and one with patterns, (don't have this one personally, picked it at random) so she can decide which she likes to color more.

Fine tip markers like Staedtler, and a set of decent but not top-of-the-line pencils like Prismacolor would be a good start. If that's more than you wanted to spend, a smaller selection would probably be fine, or a cheaper good brand such as Staedtler Noris colors which I personally love. Oh, and get her a pencil sharpener and eraser as stocking fillers :)

[edit for links] - not linking the Staedtler Noris colour pencils because I'm in the UK and am not sure the Amazon.com ones are exactly the same.

Hmm, this looks similar to The Eleventh Hour, which we had as kids, and spent hours on. There's a few red herrings in it, too, which took hours to solve, then turned out to be nothing. Wholely aggravating. My mom worked on it with us, and we never did figure it out. I ended up cheating by peeking at the answer. But I still have the book, and hope to work through it with my stepdaughter.

I started her slow, by going through Puzzle Island with her. I also got The Red Herring Mystery, but we haven't solved this one yet, and we've gotten away from this. I want to work up to The Eleventh Hour, though. It looks as though Graeme Base has other books as well, which we'll have to check out. My stepdaughter is incredibly smart, and she's eight years old now, and she loves these kind of puzzles. She also REALLY relishes anything that she can do with one of her parents (and yes, I count as one of them - she really digs me these days, which is TOTALLY AWESOME! I get to really be a mom, YAY!).

Anyway, "Masquerade" in Hardback in Good condition is selling for a penny for $3.99 shipping, so I bought a copy. Looks good. :) I'm all for things like this!

I would love a crocheted critter stuffed with dried catnip :D My kitty Leela loves snuggling catnip toys, and it would be so adorable to see her snuggling a little critter! I don't really have a preference as to what animal I'd like for her--anything cute would be great :) As for colors, I prefer darker colors--sphynxes sometimes get oily brown stains on stuff they cuddle, so just to be safe I like dark colored things.

I think Leela counts for a funny picture :P But here's me and my best friend too!

My daughter was(is) a big fan of Little Blue Truck.

We also like Goodnight Gorilla and Peek a Who

For ones that can grow with her, I'd recommend:
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Press Here
How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight

Honestly, anything by Mo Willems or Jane Yolen is going to be good! I have some books on my daughter's gift list too.

For more suggestions, a friend of mine is a librarian and has a TON of books pinned on Pinterest. Here's just one of her boards.

For us? My daughter can always use more books. We have a ton, but she loves them. I think I'm most interested in The Day the Crayons Quit for her right now. It looks really good and funny and we like to read a little above her level to her anyway (she's almost 4 so at the bottom of this one.)

Green eggs and ham.

I believe in Snow.

I really wish that people saw everyone else as little kids see everyone else. Happy, not scary or creepy or any other derogatory adjective that we use to describe people, and so full of life. First impressions were always positive and exciting and everyone could be your new best friend. I wish that were true. I have become too skeptical now, and the world would be much better if everyone saw each other as kids do.

This please! :)

My oldest is three years old, and I've found that books are a great gateway to the horror media we all know and love. It started the October after he turned one, when we found "Slide and Find Spooky" at a library book sale. It was a big hit and we've since amassed a pretty good collection of similarly themed board books

Where is Baby's Pumpkin?

Eek! Halloween!

Spooky Pookie

Little Boo

Llama Llama Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween, Curious George

and picture books

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Happy Halloween, Little Critter!

Clifford's Halloween

Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat

Berenstain Bears Go on a Ghost Walk

Bonaparte Falls Apart

​

This past fall we started watching some horror-themed television and movies. Good intros were

Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest

Hotel Transylvania

Coco

Scared Shrekless

The Nightmare Before Christmas

and especially the late sixties and late seventies iterations of Scooby-Doo. More recently we've gotten into Mystery Incorporated! (which is a treasure trove of horror references for grown-up fans, from Hellraiser's Lament Configuration and Eaten Alive's Starlight Hotel to Vincent Price and Jason Voorhees). Other kid-friendly movies that went over well have included

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Bride of Frankenstein

The Monster Squad

Beetlejuice

and, oddly enough, Starman

​

Obviously, every kid is gonna have their own preferences and move at their own speed. I've been lucky that mine gets a real kick out of "spooky" things, likes to pretend we're ghosts or monsters as we play chase, etc. One benefit of enjoying this stuff together is that we can talk about how monsters are for fun and not real, and we've watched makeup tutorials on YouTube to see how artists help actors pretend to be monsters. We have yet to go through waking up from a nightmare about any of this, and I think the conversations we've had about the imaginary nature of these things have really helped with that.

I didn't say it had the biggest, most expansive universe. I'm not dumb.

But I'm a really big fan of the books, which got me looking into the expanded universe. I know Halo doesn't have movies or TV shows or a million bajillion books like the Star Wars/Warhammer ones, but I think for what it is, it's pretty good.

You've got the story arc of the games which introduces the humans and the Covenant and their conflict, then the books show how the conflict started, the human history before the Covenant, the Covenant conflict within itself, and the conflict betweeh humans, covenant, and flood (and all combinations of those) in places not seen in the game. The comics help flesh that out as well.

And then the Forerunner novels that just started coming out are fleshing out the ancient times of humanity and the covenant and stuff like that. It's looking more and more like the Marathon games are tied in with Halo, so all that backstory and that universe could probably be lumped in with Halo. Not to mention that the books also deal with the different factions of the Covenant which from there splinter off into their own backgrounds.

And then you have the ARG's with their whole background and stuff like that.

I think it really hit me when I got the Halo Encyclopedia link and it really fleshes stuff out, and anything that you want more info on, you could probably get.

I'm definitely not saying it has the largest universe or anything like that. But for what started out as a pretty straight-forward series of FPS games, I think it fleshed itself out very nicely.

Sorry if I don't make sense at times, I'm terrible at articulating my thoughts. :P

Sorry, I forgot to come back here and check for later questions!

I don't know much about adult histories of dragons, but The Book of Dragons is pretty good for kid dragon short stories, and A Field Guide to... and A World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People is pretty cute for the others. Dragonology is another, but it's more adorable than useful.

You are freaking awesome. I feel so lucky! I barely squeaked that comment in last night. I commented, then went to reply to my own comment pretty much as soon as I hit "send" on the original and you'd already locked it again!

Your $50 got me FOUR things!

Super awesome coloring book I found out about from someone else on Wishlist, though I forgot who
Flash drive so I can transfer files from my dying laptop to my newish one.
Keurig cups with delicious Chai tea in them
And the CUTEST rain booties EVER!

Purple is my favorite color (I'm obsessed... I mean... this is me on a fairly average day, oh except I was in desperate need of recoloring my hair when I took that one. Hair is purple now :D. Anyway!! These booties will keep me dry, they look like they have killer traction, and they're cute as hell!!!

Everything should get delivered on the 8th, and I'll be out of the house all day that day! My husband has a physical therapy appointment in the town 40 minutes away, and then we have to take our car to the dealership to get the brake shift somethingoranother changed out because Kia sent us a lovely recall notice about it. I'm so excited to get home on Friday! Is it Friday yet?! I WANT IT TO BE FRIDAY ALREADY!!!

D&D really boils down to roll a d20 and add or subtract a modifier, they should be able to understand it fairly easily. And just run a straight forward dungeon crawl adventure like Sunless Citadel from the Tales From the Yawning Portal book.

D&D also just put out young adventurers books. And a series of choose your own adventure books.

Hero Kids is also a good option and has tons of free pdf stuff available. And then there is also Mouse Guard which uses a version of the Burning Wheel system. Mouse Guard has several cool graphic novels good for kids those ages.

Finally, the Fantasy Flight Star Wars games would be very good for kids. Kids know Star Wars so they don't have to learn the setting and can dive right in. The Edge of the Empire starter set has everything you need and a really good intro adventure.

My nephew Jakob has been really into minecraft lately and a couple months ago was able to get a book about it at his schools book Fair. He loves being able to read the book and get ideas of what he can create next. So i know he would really love this Minecraft Red Stone handbook to go with his other book.

My brother Kevin loves watching youtube and one of the youtubers he watches is coming out with a book called Girl Online that I know he would love.

Thanks for doing this and thanks for considering them!

1. The Monster at the End of this Book is fun if the parents know how to read stories aloud. Emphasis, emotion, different voices, etc. It features Grover from the Sesame Street, but is great even if they don't watch Sesame Street. Grover spends the whole book trying to stop you, the reader, from reaching the monster at the end of the book.
   
   
2. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is similar. The bus driver has to leave for a minute and asks for you to be sure the pigeon doesn't drive the bus. The pigeon then pleads with you on every page, giving reasons why he should drive the bus. The story works when you encourage the child to yell, "NO!" at the pigeon.
   
   
3. Too Many Frogs I enjoyed doing voices for, and knocking each time Froggie comes into Rabbit's house uninvited to have Rabbit read to him. You only need to do a crackly frog and exasperated rabbit voice.
   
   
4. The Book With No Pictures is great when the kid is a little older. The book trailer says it all.
   

These are pretty simple. Part of how long it will take you to make them is if you're able to find a pattern for exactly that.

Amigurumi are made by crocheting in the round using mainly single crochet stitches (very basic stitch). I started learning how to crochet by doing ami, and my first few were really terrible as I figured out how to crochet correctly. It also took a super long time.

So if you're willing to spend some time working on it, I'd say a few weeks to a few months (depending on how much time you spend on it and how quickly you pick new skills up). There are loads of videos on youtube for crocheting help that make it really easy. I'd recommend finding a pattern that is for beginners and trying to make it, looking up stitches and abbreviations that you don't know.

When I learned I used this book: http://www.amazon.com/Crochet-Critters-Leisure-Vannas-Choice/dp/1601404956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344645656&sr=8-1&keywords=lion+brand+amigurumi which I found at a local craft store. It's nice cause the projects are small (and therefore quicker to finish) and they have a basic how-to in the back. Another nice thing is that since it's published by a major yarn company, it's easy to find the yarn and hooks you need to make your ami turn out just like the ones in the book.

You could try playing HarmonQuest style, where he simply tells you what he wants to do and you make the rolls (or let him roll and he just tells you the number) and you have a separate copy of his sheet. He would simply just be given an overview of what he's good at and the different actions/spells he can cast. This could help ease him in as you eventually tell him how you come to different conclusions and effects with the rolls. You would be playing much looser with the rules, and you run the risk of him just wanting to only play that style instead of learning to do it himself.

​

Depending on his age and experience with fantasy, Warriors & Weapons (Official D&D book) could help introduce him to the world of D&D and help him better create a character fit for him.

Download the music from the game records and play it while the kids are eating and hanging out.

Make your best attempt at a Desert Temple cake.
http://media-mcw.cursecdn.com/thumb/f/f9/2012-06-22_18.02.26.png/400px-2012-06-22_18.02.26.png

Set up a small LAN where the kids can play the game itself and introduce their friends to it. This is a good "cool down" activity after cake/presents/etc.

Print out block textures, and use those as wrapping paper.

Give some books like these as gifts
http://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-Redstone-Handbook-Official-Mojang/dp/054568515X/

http://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-Essential-Handbook-Official-Mojang/dp/0545669936/

or just have them around at the party for kids to look through.

For an activity how about some minecraft papercraft?
http://pixelpapercraft.com/

Maybe get some minecraft themed food for all to enjoy.

Cake, cookies, bread, steak, potatoes, milk, mushroom stew, quite a few options.

http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Food

For a one year old? You can't go wrong with Pat the Bunny. I'm surprised, I don't see that anyone else has posted that one yet. That was my brothers' favorite book when they were growing up. Textile and all.

For my stepdaughter, and for my nieces and nephews, I really want to get my hands on Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, which my brothers and I enjoyed for many, many years. All of the kids in my life are under eight years old, so I know they'd love it!

Of course, you can never go wrong with Green Eggs and Ham. Or any Dr. Seuss. But, hey, I know that stuff can get old. I've recommended many of the others I see already listed here, but Pat The Bunny, or also Harold and the Purple Crayon, are probably really good for your daughter!

Thanks for the contest!

• [This] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1780674880/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1J7XW9BBWNIJC&coliid=I2JPQK18CLOKSV) awesome grown up coloring book because they're so much fun and they help to relieve stress. Plus you get awesome pretty pictures out of it.
  
  
• [This] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TSUGXKE/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1J7XW9BBWNIJC&coliid=I159KTWX8R5WIE&psc=1) $50 Kindle Fire is like, the best possible value for a tablet ever. Personally, I've been planning to order one for myself as soon as the financial aid dept stops dragging their asses because it will save me SO much money on textbooks. But it also has the whole Kindle library available and has full tablet functionality. Even a regular reader that isn't a tablet usually runs at least $60.
  
  
• [These] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009IU83M/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1J7XW9BBWNIJC&coliid=I2J94J3QK07MTI&psc=1) shoes. Have you ever worn moccs? They're so comfy and they make any outfit look so much better. Jeans? Better with moccs. Flowy skirt? Moccs would make it better. Bare naked? Moccs!
  
  
• [This] (http://www.amazon.com/BLU-Life-One-LTE-Smartphone/dp/B00YR23W1G/ref=sr_1_21?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1453725569&sr=1-21&keywords=BLU+phone) phone. BLU is a company that's just recently blown up because they sell amazing unlocked phones at great prices. That one is comparable to a Galaxy S4 but it's only $100 right now! (Usually $150) I've had a windows phone for a long time and I like the OS but the lack of apps kills it. I really want to make the switch back to Android and these phones are probably the best bet right now. They also have a TON of options for cases, which is a big problem for non-iphone users. There's a million iPhone cases out there, but everyone else seems to get the shaft. UNTIL NOW.

These all look fantastic! I would add
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316236535/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495720962&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=big+green+monster&dpPl=1&dpID=51XMV5wCq3L&ref=plSrch

And

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0920303110/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495721023&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=mortimer+robert+munsch

You might have Munsch in your classics , but he is one of my favorites. My kids enjoyed No David by David Shannon. Pigeon books were also a favorite here.

Thanks for the list! Lots to research!

Yeah, I second the book idea. Not totally unique but I think three to five books for kids that you loved when you were a child or that your child loves are great. That's what I always go with and that's what we used to do when I would go shopping with my mom. My faves that aren't super obvious (i.e. not "Good Night Moon") are Jamberry, Jesse Bear What Will You Wear (that's my name, so, I loved it, obviously), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (huge hit for me and later for my sis, which would make sense if you know the plot), Snow Day, and Happy Birthday Moon.

If you want to go absolute classics, these are some of my faves: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, In the Night Kitchen, The Giving Tree, and Harold and the Purple Crayon (Probably my favorite children's book of all time).

Hope that helps!

Edit: formatting

The Monster At the End of This Book!

It’s super cute and it’s fun because you can be super animated when you read it. It’s one of the few that I can keep my son interested in because of the animated tone!

Congratulations!

My kids are now adults, and I teach young children. Over the years, these are the books for very young children that I have found to have the most staying power.

Infant/Toddler/Early childhood books: (you can read these to a child under 1 year, he or she will appreciate the rhythmic sounds, and both words and pictures acquire meaning as time goes on.)

Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown (simply the best parental bonding books)

What Do People Do All Day by Richard Scarry

PeekABoo, The Jolly Postman and Each Pear Each Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
All three books have engaging text and illustrations that both child and adult can appreciate.

Little Blue and Little Yellow This book, in my opinion, is a work of art on several levels. Kids never get tired of its reassurance.

No, David by David Shannon (but IMO the other David books are not nearly as good)

Caps for Sale Another book with repetitive rhythms for children, with an amusing story

Blueberries for Sal A classic that has stood the test of time, I still read this to the class every fall.

The Lion and the Mouse This is Aesop's fable, told with no words, only Jerry Pinkney's amazing illustrations. Two, three and four year olds ask for this story over and over again.

Other favorites:

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney

Ferdinand the Bull

The Cat in the Hat

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Authors to consider: Jan Brett, Shel Silverstein, Judith Viorst, E. B.White, Frank Asch, Roald Dahl.

Robert Munsch gets mixed reviews but to me, The Paperbag Princess is a must.

Without knowing for sure what you mean by "small" (4? 7?), here are my go to suggestions for modern kids' comics:

• The Babymouse series by Jennifer and Matthew Holm
  
• The Magic Trixie series by Jill Thompson
  
• The two Miss Annie books by Frank Le Gall and Flore Balthazar
  
• Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
  
• Meanwhile... by Jason Shiga. It may seem a little advanced, but my friend's twin girls loved it when they were about 6.
  
  Any more details you can furnish about the girl's entertainment habits and interests would help to get more specific.

I’m pregnant and have both of these saved and will be ordering ABC’s as soon as it’s available again. My husband is excited haha we also have a player’s handbook and monster manual that were specifically written for kids... let me find a link real quick because they’re super cool and have Pokémon style size references with descriptions like “about the size of a beachball” or other random relatable objects.

Edit: Monsters and Creatures

Warriors and Weapons
There are apparently more of them? The author was at GenCon and these are the two we got

Luckily for you, there are quite a few resources full of info on the Halo Canon. Whatever you're looking for, you'll find here.

• Halopedia is arguably the best resource for everything Halo, but you'll probably suffer SCP Syndrome and get dragged in for hours and forget what you were there for in the first place.
  
  
• The Halo Story subreddit has a lot of Q&A type posts dating back for years, so whatever questions you may have are probably already answered. If for some reason your questions aren't there, just post them and the awesome community over there will help you out.
  
  
• There are two massive "Halo Bibles" that have been published so far, with the older Halo Encyclopedia covering almost everything released up to Halo: Reach and the new Halo Mythos covering everything from the fall of the Precursors to the months leading up to Halo Wars 2. Mythos, in particular, has some beautiful artwork that could help you get an idea of the mood you'd want for your campaign.
  
  As far as youtuber's go, there are two main ones that I'm aware of. I'm sure there are more, and if anybody would PM me or comment below, I'll add them to the list.
  
  
• Halo Canon, who has videos on almost any topic imaginable.
  
  
• Halo Follower, who focuses more on the "real world" side of Halo, but does have an awesome lore playlist
  
  ------
  
  Edit: After some quick googling, I've discovered that there is a fan-made Halo RPG called Halo Mythic, which has its own subreddit at /r/HaloMythic/

[this coloring book for me] (http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Forever-Disney-Princess-Coloring/dp/0736423990/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3IQHW1NI9VG7O&coliid=I2ZC4R1IIO21YQ)

And this coloring book for my nieces

We like to color together and if they spend the night, it is a fun activity! They'd probably end up with both of the books... but we do like to share :)

Here, kitty kitty!

I'd get this Minecraft book for my daughter. She has two in the series already, but wants the rest for Christmas. It's good to share the love!

I'd recommend going over Murray Chandler's Chess for Children with your son. It's a fun book to read along with a child and to do the 'tricky tests' together and is his great illustrations for children. You can take a look at it here

If your son is still keen after that you can try Chess Tactics for Kids and How to beat your Dad at chess by the same author are also good.

How old are your kids? Mine are young (4/6) so it's easy to put a set limit on screen time... most days an hour is the max, but we're not too rigid. If they're not in front of a screen, they just seem to keep themselves active.

When I was a kid, my mom (and all of my neighbor friend's moms) would just scream at us to "get out of the house!!!" That seemed to work for us.

I had once seen a redditor recommend these two books on childhood (I think they're pretty cool... probably more about being busy than actually active though):

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Out-What-Nothing/dp/0393339416/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344132013&sr=8-1&keywords=where+did+you+go+out.+what+did+you+do+nothing

http://www.amazon.com/How-Nothing-Nobody-Alone-Yourself/dp/0982053959/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

I just got the same book as a gift! We also got several books by Chris Ferrie that are all "[field of science] for babies", which seem neat. The only big must-have for me is The Monster at the End of This Book, which was my favorite as a kid. I just read a whole article about it that made me even more excited to read it to my kid. Thankfully, I have our family's copy from before I was even born, so that's good to go. My childless older brother thinks I'm a thief for taking it because it's got his name in it - ha!

If you liked "Choose Your Own Adventure," please, for the love of all that's awesome, check out Meanwhile by Jason Shiga. It's a "choose your own" comic story that's wicked funny.

You know what you need? You need a book. A book about DRAGONS. Why? BECAUSE MOTHER FREAKIN' DRAGONS, THAT'S WHY. DRAGONS ARE AWESOME AND SO ARE YOU.

SO BUY YOURSELF THIS FREAKIN' AWESOME BOOK, YO

Big Green Monster is one of my favorites!! I love it tons.

Also,

• But No Elephants
  
• Sweet Dreams, Clown Arounds!
  
• Little Mouse's Big Valentine
  
• Buggly Bear's Hiccup Cure
  
• No Carrots for Harry
  
• Pigs in the House
  
• Pickle Things
  
• The Stinky Cheese Man
  
  Get those kids some books! :)

Thanks for the contest! This book looks like a lot of fun and would keep me busy for a while :)

Oh man! I love Shiga's comics, but hadn't visited his site this year. I highly recommend Meanwhile (I had to buy a physical copy) and Fleep is also very good.

This Jimmy is long on rationality and short on ethics. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Depends on budget. The starter set is <$20 on Amazon. The Player's Handbook is around $30 (or $50 at a bookstore/gaming shop). A cool set of dice in his favorite color is usually<$10. Amazon has a kind of interactive book called Dungeonology for $15. (List price is $30. We're getting a couple as gifts for friends.)



my go-to for people curious or mildly interested.

Many of the 5e modules have sections about running them in other D&D settings, so they are easily adaptable.

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is the campaign setting book for the FR, thus far. Tho I also recommend Dungeonology by Matt Forbeck. It's a pithy little FR campaign primer and has THE best Sword Coast map produced in 5e, to date.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965800/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3/167-2967996-5756223?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2HSMNV0WGXZWD01G04RC

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeonology-Ologies-Matt-Forbeck/dp/0763693537


My favorite out-of-a-can campaign setting is actually Mystara. After I finish my next couple FR games, I'm gonna run a 5e Mystara campaign.

You can use any campaign setting book from any edition in 5e. You're just using the flavor text to tease out the world. Don't worry about the edition mechanics.

I counter this suggestion with How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself. It was written in the fifties buy a guy that grew up in the twenties and is absolutely delightful. First of all it's not for boys or girls, it's addressed to "kids". Everything in it is free (assuming the kid has a pen knife) and can be done alone minus adult supervision and I love how the author recommends going to the library to learn more several times throughout the book.

It does have some funny anachronisms though, all dads smoke and all moms sew, ect. But on the whole it's stood up to time very well.

I haven't read this Boy Scout book, but I have read both The Dangerous Book For Boys and The Daring Book For Girls and this book it better than both of those.

It's hard to find because he makes them by hand, but also check out "Meanwhile", published by Amulet.

http://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Pick-Path-Story-Possibilities/dp/0810984237/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265263413&sr=8-1

It's a choose-your-own-adventure comic that's brilliant - you follow different paths throughout the comic, and it does some stuff with the medium I've never seen before. Super impressive.

Love it!!! So happy. Also reminded me of this book.

Oh man. I hear you. Puzzles, coloring books (might I suggest: http://www.amazon.com/Enchanted-Forest-Inky-Quest-Coloring/dp/1780674880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449980561&sr=8-1&keywords=enchanted+forest+coloring+book), knitting, spinning ( seriously--so fun), drawing. I've also started sending letters and cards to all my friends and family--it's a creative way to let people know you care, and you don't have to leave your bed! Everyone has been really moved and a few people have even started writing back!

Woo, happy Friday! Thank you for the contest. Yes, I'm an adult... :D

I’ve really learned that what is called “easy” and “beginner” can feel like a mountain at the very beginning. It’s subjective. The very first amigurumi I did came from this book and once you know how to start a round I found most of them very manageable. Good luck!! 10 Amigurumi Dolls

The concept is certainly interesting, especially the gamification. That aspect might be enough to set it apart from Jason Shiga's Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities. which, for my money, is the gold standard for this type of book.

I also notice that these are translations from the French, which is a good sign. Has anyone read the originals? Do you have any insight into how well they work in practice?

Speaking of sesame Street and nice monsters, good old Golden Books has a perfect book for you

https://www.amazon.com/Monster-End-This-Book/dp/0307010856

If your really serious about this, this book is really great. There is a table of contents so you can look up exactly what you want to know, or what you find interesting. But other than that, playing through the games (Halo CE, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, wars, and 4) would be the best way to build a connection to the characters as your boyfriend has.

The hidden object books are actually the Johanna Basford books. Here is the one I just bought. If you look through the pictures, you will see that there are a certain amount of specific animals hidden throughout the book to find while you color. There are also hidden symbols to find that "unlock" the castle at the end.

Thanks for the suggestions! Those books look fun! I'm finding that there are just so many to choose from!

I got the pattern out of a book called Easy Crochet Critters

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1601404956/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_0YF.ub0QTT9G6

I picked it up at Michaels for $7. I've enjoyed it because the patterns are quick. Makes them fast easy baby gifts.

Good reminder for Bob's Burgers. I've been meaning to get back to that.

​

Here's some books that we liked around Kindergarten:

• https://smile.amazon.com/Jimmy-Zangwows-This-World-Moon-Pie-Adventure/dp/068985563X/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1423133080 ( We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book)
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Gruffalo-Julia-Donaldson/dp/0142403873
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Day-Crayons-Quit-Drew-Daywalt/dp/0399255370
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Book-No-Pictures-B-Novak/dp/0803741715
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Press-Here-Herve-Tullet/dp/0811879542/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Case-Stripes-Scholastic-Bookshelf/dp/0439598389
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Have-Filled-Bucket-Today-Bucketfilling/dp/099609993X
  
  Really any Tony Diterlizi, Dave Shannon, or Mo Williams books are good.
  
  ​

My son likes this book, How to Beat your Dad at Chess. There are tons of kid friendly books. He likes taking his book with him to Chess Club.

Wow. This is such a beautiful book, I got the new one too - it's called Enchanted Forest. Incredible.

My daughter loves music :) She is 6.

thank you!!!

I highly recommend Press Here. It's a book where each page has you follow a simple instruction (tap this dot, shake the book, etc) and then the next page is the "result" of following that instruction. We received it as a Christmas gift when my son was around 6 months, and it's still one of his favorites at 18 months.

I have really enjoyed the book how to beat your dad at chess as a departure from the "norm" of chess books. This book is much more focused on teaching you pattern recognition than just drilling you over and over and over, which you can get from any tactics trainer online or one of those giant puzzle books. Don't let the title fool you, it's not a book aimed at children (obviously would be fine for an ambitious youth, just mean that it's not a "kids" chess book per se).

Personally, I'm a big fan of the Marsupial Dragon, but it's hard to beat the classic European Dragon. The Frost Dragon is pretty cool too though.

Reference for the confused

This one is relatively recent and pretty awesome: Meanwhile

I just bought my friend a bunch of those for Christmas. My favorites are the adventure books by Johanna Basford.

Boop: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1780674880?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s04

http://www.amazon.com/Dragonology-Complete-Book-Dragons-Ologies/dp/0763623296

I have it in German, really amazing book, thank you for reminding me of it even if it isn't what you searched for! :D

One of the Books that got me back into chess was How to beat your Dad at Chess, which is just a great book of 50 checkmating patterns really clearly explained.

Are you aware of this lovely set of books...? They make a great gift.

The best book about monsters ever written is easily 'The Monster at the End of this Book.' Gripping and captivating.

For Mommy

For Daughter

Thanks for the contest! :)

those meddling kids

Thanks! I had fun channeling my inner Harold (and the Purple Crayon).

The Minecraft Handbook Collection is pretty neat! https://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-Complete-Collection-Stephanie-Milton/dp/0545685192

There's a great graphic novel called "Meanwhile" that's a CYOA book. Lots of little details, oodles of possibilities.

Yeah, definitely sounds like Meanwhile by Jason Shiga https://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237

I understand.
Oh boy, do I understand.

As I've said, your best bet would probably be reading the books. It isn't telling the same story that the games are but the stories share many similarities and are less confusing to follow. If you really want the game's story though, try The Freddy Files: https://www.amazon.com/Freddy-Files-Five-Nights-Freddys/dp/1338139347/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

It's not the whole story put together but it gives you the details that you might have missed in the games and it gives possible explanations to things that are not answered in the games.

Hope this helps. :)

I got this one for Christmas (love it!) and I gave this one to a friend who seemed excited to get it.

It was updated on the US page along with several others. Others though, like the UK page, still have the original. It was updated a while ago. The old, original description can be found here

Get those kids some books!

The Monster at the End of this Book

I loved this book as a kid! All time fav!

Surprise me

There are plenty of books that are made better by their pictures too. We're not just talking about novels. Think of children's books, for example.

Saying a book like this would be better if it was only text is crazy: http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Island-Childs-Play-Library/dp/0859534030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318796162&sr=8-1

How to beat your Dad at chess - Murray Chandler is the book I have used to learn a bunch of common mating patterns, I've still not got all the way through the book but it's certainly helping a lot.

I love this review on the Amazon page:

"It's what you'd get if you crossed the Boy Scout Handbook with The Anarchist's Cookbook, and it's definitely the wildest how-to manual I've seen this year."

—Greg Cowles, The New York Times Paper Cuts blog

My 6 year old loves the handbooks:
http://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-The-Complete-Handbook-Collection/dp/0545685192

You'd be surprised what a kid at that age can build on their own in Minecraft.

28 and I'll pay it forward

ETA: can we do that? A pay it forward thread? It would obviously break when someone inevitably doesn't pif, but it could be fun while it lasted

The game moves way too quick for any book to be relevant except for a short amount of time, although these are really nice looking books that i plan to buy even if they are outdated.
http://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-Redstone-Handbook-Official-Mojang/dp/054568515X
just look for the official mojang handbooks that look like this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1338139347

Here for example. Pretty sure it's on any page with the book.

I love there’s a monster at the end of this book!

there’s a monster

Monsters & Creatures does exactly that. It gives info about creatures without any details or stats. It's made for children, but let's be honest, all DnD players are children in the body of a grownup.

I recommend Chess Steps. It's a program geared towards kids that'll take them from beginner to A/B level.

Murray Chandler's Chess for Children is also a good book.

[No need to hunt its 5 maple leaf dollars here ](The Monster at the End of This Book (Sesame Book) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0307010856/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bu8PCb68P4K21)

And a great book!

I'm old school. So it's either The Pokey Little Puppy or The Monster at the End of this Book. Neither of which are probably the right reading level for a toddler but they're still my two favorite books for little ones.

The Monster at the End of This Book was a huge favorite of mine.

https://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Weapons-Adventurers-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/1984856421/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=young+adventurer%27s+guide&qid=1566282996&s=gateway&sr=8-4 or https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Creatures-Adventurers-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/1984856405/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=young+adventurer%27s+guide&qid=1566282996&s=gateway&sr=8-2 maybe? I haven't read them, but they sound like the sort of thing.

I was referring to this one. I would love an updated one with all the EU after halo 3.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Great children's book.

It's not old at all. If it was, it wouldn't be the first result to show up when you type in the UK description for Amazon. It can't be an old description, because even the date was changed to September 7 recently, like it was supposed to. All we're looking at is a different description of the book. That isn't just on Amazon, but also Google Play, which has the other description.

"Highlight theories" and "All the evidence" don't go together if it's not supposed to answer some thing.

There is a Choose Your Own Adventure book/comic called Meanwhile that blew my mind as a kid with a similar concept. If you chose to eat chocolate ice cream (the first choice), eventually you met a professor who built a machine to guarantee a coin flip will come up heads. He rigged a machine to destroy the universe if the coin is tails, so existing after pushing the button means your coin must necessarily have landed on heads. The book gets even trippier after that, but that’s what stuck with me the longest. It’s a pretty solid read in the YA section, and a basic but solid introduction to quantum mechanics.

I got my nephew (9 years old I think?) Dungeonology for Christmas.

Apparently he loves it.

http://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Pick-Path-Story-Possibilities/dp/0810984237

Really a fun book for any age.

It's intentional. It's from a puzzle book, I can't find which one though.

It was a children's adventure book... you had to spot certain things in the pictures and then reconstruct clues.. there was a maze, and a desert with an upside-down rhino made of rocks, and dinosaurs...

Edit: it was Puzzle Island

Found it. Pretty excited. No big deal. ..

http://www.amazon.ca/PUZZLE-ISLAND-pb-Paul-Adshead/dp/0859534030

This reminds me of my favorite childrens' book, Harold and the Purple Crayon, when he washes up on a desert island so draws himself a picnic with 13 different kinds of pie, eats one piece of each pie, and then draws a porcupine and a moose to finish the rest.

this reminds me of a book I had when I was younger - Puzzle Island (https://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Island-Childs-Play-Library/dp/0859534030) :)

https://www.amazon.com/How-Beat-Your-Chess-Gambit/dp/1901983056

How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess) Hardcover – October 1, 1998

You are welcome.

People are giving you bad recommendations.

This is what you want:
https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Creatures-Adventurers-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/1984856405

Entirely lore-focused book, pitched at kids and young readers, officially licensed. Literally everything you could want.

There are a couple other books in this series and more on the way.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

The Little Engine That Could

Make Way for Duckings

Harold and the Purple Crayon

A Snowy Day

Do Not Open This Book

This is the cover image for the Encyclopedia , For anyone interested

http://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237

this is a funny choose-your-own-adventure comic. sometimes the reader can end up "losing" and the reader's ability to naturally restart their adventure in the comic is justified as destroying parallel universes, and switching to extant universes.

i think a version of it can be found online.

I just bought a couple coloring books for the first time in years! I'm excited, particularly for this one.

Solved! Puzzle Island.

Searched "book illustrated peacocks puzzle"

Sure:

• Robert Paul Smith.
  
  
• Amazon.

Because you had chess items and children's books. Maybe these to go with this as well.

You might be interested in the recently released Young Adventurer's Guide. I haven't looked through it much, but it's aimed at a younger demographic with simpler rules and less math.

EDIT: Reviewing some of the comments, you might need to pair this with the starter set or PHB.

I am almost certain you are talking about meanwhile. the vanilla or chocolate thing confirmed it

edit: oof, some dude got to you before i did.

The Freddy Files is an official "guidebook" made to... solve lore. Learn the game mechanics. Meet the characters, I dunno.

If I'm not mistaken the US version never really had that it was the UK version. And I think? It's still in the description.

Edit

Just checked UK version still divulges that it has police reports etc! :D

My kids are younger, but when I was a kid and bugging my parents to play with me, they handed me this book, How to nothing with nobody all alone by yourself.

My dad never let me win in chess, not once. My dad was an air traffic controller and thats all they did every day at work. They controlled planes for an hour, went to the break room and played chess for an hour, then controlled airplanes for an hour, then back to chess for a quarter a game. He used to come home with his pockets full of quarters after a midnight shift.

I went years and years before I could beat him but one time he slipped up and left his queen in front of his king on the white diagonal line, I can still picture that to this day. I didn't dare brag though. I was 99-1. I practiced hard, I put chess on my phone, I read booksI joined the college chess team, all to get back that feeling of seeing his queen lined up in front of his king. I still try to get together with him once a month and eat lunch and play chess. I know someday he will pass away and I don't want to ever miss a month eating BBQ and playing chess with him. Even though he beats me two out of every three games. Every damn time.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Harold and the Purple Crayon

The Monster at the end of this Book

I dunno, something with monsters, probably.

here ya go https://www.amazon.com/Monster-End-This-Book/dp/0307010856/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2FIV5HTA8SIU8&keywords=the+monster+at+the+end+of+this+book&qid=1554510723&s=gateway&sprefix=the+monste&sr=8-1

Go Away, Big Green Monster?

Go Away, Big Green Monster is another one similar to this!

Is it this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316236535?pc_redir=1413619540&robot_redir=1

The Gamers Bible

Coloring books? Or a few coloring books and a sticker book!

edit: here ya go

http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Encyclopedia-Definitive-Guide-Universe/dp/0756688698

Was it A Practical Guide to Dragons or Dragonology?

I had one in the series on mythology, egypt, dragons, and pirates. It camp from candlewick press if it is of the same series. I have seen that picture before and think it is in

https://www.amazon.com/Dragonology-Complete-Book-Dragons-Ologies/dp/0763623296/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MGQMGA6H3Z2T43PETTG0

It has a chapter on different types of dragons and some that are in water.

Looks familiar!

http://www.amazon.com/Dragonology-Complete-Book-Dragons-Ologies/dp/0763623296

Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons?

Dragonology?

This?

Dragonology?

Dragonology?

If it's this one, that would be Dragonology.

Is this it? Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons by Ernest Drake?

Dragonology!

Dragonology?

https://www.amazon.com/Dragonology-Complete-Book-Dragons-Ologies/dp/0763623296/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KRSH15SDKJU4&keywords=dragonology&qid=1554407906&s=gateway&sprefix=dragonolo%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1

Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons (Ologies) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0763623296/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_g4cPCbHM6WVH4

https://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237 ?

Meanwhile?
https://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237

"Meanwhile"

https://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237

Is this it?

https://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237

I think it was "Meanwhile"

https://www.amazon.com/Meanwhile-Path-Possibilities-Graphic-Novels/dp/0810984237

Press Here

https://www.amazon.com/Press-Here-Herve-Tullet/dp/0811879542/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502813652&sr=8-1&keywords=press+here

Press Here

Edit; formatting

Puzzle Island by Paul Adshead.

Example.

Doesn't happen to be the recently posted Puzzle Island, does it?

Also: latest possible publication date?

Puzzle Island

PICK THIS ONE you will have the coolest book there...

Puzzle Island by Paul Adshead?

Puzzle Island

Puzzle Island https://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Island-Childs-Play-Library/dp/0859534030

It's for kids, but so what. How to do nothing....

https://www.amazon.com/Freddy-Files-Five-Nights-Freddys/dp/1338139347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510294430&sr=8-1&keywords=freddy+files

They are telling the truth

Source page: https://www.amazon.com/Freddy-Files-Five-Nights-Freddys/dp/1338139347/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1487876315&sr=1-1